The Call
by Kat A. Klysmic
Summary: Rose Tyler, stuck in a universe not her own, manages to place a phone call to the Doctor. Problem is, the call is answered by a Doctor from this universe instead of her own; one that has never met Rose Tyler or the Bad Wolf. Post S2, AU after 'Doomsday'.
1. The Call

Author's Note: Welcome to my new fic, everyone! This is based off of a dream I had last night, actually, and I just had to write about it! Please, **REVIEW **i**f you would be interested in reading more chapters of this**! I'm torn on whether or not I want to make it a project, though I _do_ have some ideas already, so if you like it, let me know!

Doctor Who does not belong to me, obviously. I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it did, lol.

Deep within the recesses of Rose Tyler's mind, the Bad Wolf stirred, and woke it's other half.

As Rose opened her eyes and looked blearily at the clock beside her bed, the illuminated numbers clicked over to three in the morning. In response, the woman sighed heavily and groped blindly for the cellphone beside her bed. Her hand bumped against something, and she only just avoided knocking it to the floor. Grabbing it, she realized the shape in her hand wasn't what she wanted, so she set it back down again. With a huff of annoyance, Rose propped herself up on one elbow and reached again. This time, after a moment's feeling around and nearly knocking her lamp over, she found what she was looking for.

It was an old mobile, and she'd been teased more than once by friends and coworkers for keeping it around so long, particularly since she also had a more recent phone for actual day to day usage. They thought she was sentimental, and she supposed she was, but there was another reason, the _real _reason she kept the ancient piece of tech around.

It was from another universe.

What was more, it could, theoretically, call anyone, anywhere, and any _when_ in said universe.

Rose stared at her old mobile for a long moment before her thumb moved slowly across the worn and faded number pad in a pattern that had become so familiar that she shouldn't have even had to wake up to do it. It had become tradition, over time, to dial a specific number at a specific time every night...the Doctor's number, in the vain hope of somehow reaching him.

It was pathetic, it really was. Rose _knew_ it was; after all, even the Doctor's jiggery-pokery wasn't good enough to make a phone that could call between parallel realities.

She did it anyways, though. She dialed that phone every night more faithfully than most people prayed. Every night, though, without fail, she got the same message...tonight was no different.

_'We're sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected or...'_

Rose had memorized the message by this point, and she mouthed along with it before the line automatically hung up on her, leaving the woman with a dial tone ringing in her ear. She let it go for a minute before hanging up and pressing the phone to her forehead, her eyes closed tight as she refused, as she did every night, to cry.

"I have got to stop doing this to myself." she said aloud to her empty bedroom. The darkness swallowed her words, leaving her in silence until she went to roll over and put the phone back on her night stand as she did every night...when the Bad Wolf stirred again.

That was _not_ something that happened every night.

Rose had grown used to the Wolf's quiet, but intense presence in the back of her mind. She knew, and the Wolf knew, that it was only a small fragment of what had once made them a goddess, capable of turning entire Dalek armies to dust with a wave of a single hand. It was the last, smoldering ember of what had once been the entire time vortex running through her mortal mind. It had not fully woken until the day that Rose and the Doctor had been separated forever. That day on the beach of Bad Wolf Bay she had said a final goodbye to the man who had changed her life irrevocably, and he hadn't even been able to say the words she had been hoping to hear for so very long...

Rose tightened her eyes against the memories that came rushing back, and for once the Wolf obliged her, by brushing them gently to one side, tucking them away back where they belonged. Apparently it had more important things to tell her, so Rose waited, and listened.

The Wolf didn't wake often, but when it did, it saved usually her life, or someone else's. Premonitions of terrible events to come, an ability to remember tiny details no human should have noticed when she was desperate, and once, it had even disintegrated a bullet with her name on it.

Still, all of these things were uncommon, so Rose knew to pay attention when it pressed a memory to the forefront of her mind. It was a glimpse of her own phone's screen, but from years before, when it had still been new. A phone number stood out in stark relief beneath the caller ID labeled 'TARDIS'. She _remembered _this phone call. It had been the day her mother had invited the both of them back to the flat for dinner after their first run in with the Slitheen. The Doctor almost never used the TARDIS phone, and so Rose had never memorized it, hadn't even given the number itself a second thought...until now.

Heart pounding in her ears, Rose dialed the number that was now emblazoned across the inside of her eyelids with an unsteady hand. The moment of silence that came between her pressing the call button and when the distinct sound of ringing echoed around the silent room seemed to take an eternity. As it rang, for the first time since she had become trapped in this reality, Rose dropped her mobile like it had burned her. A second later, though, she was scrambling for it amongst the blankets, snatching it up and then pressing it desperately to her ear as the phone rang once...twice...three times...Rose bit her lip so hard it began to bleed, though she didn't notice.

There was a soft click at the other end of the line that echoed in Rose's ear like a gunshot.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end wasn't the one she had been expecting, but that didn't mean that it wasn't familiar.

"Hello?" the voice asked again, the distinct, heart-achingly familiar northern accent making Rose's heart leap erratically in her chest.

She heard him mutter something, seemed to _feel_ him go to drop the phone back on the hook with every fiber of her being "Wait!" she called, voice agonized and desperate, the force of it throwing her forward onto her hands and knees amongst sleep tossed blankets of her bed.

The handset pulled away from the hook and Rose could hear the Doctor take a breath on the other side of the line, could picture the frown of confusion on his angular face so clearly in her mind that she might as well have been standing there beside him "Who is this? How did you get this number?" he asked in the low, rolling tone that had made Rose's toes curl since the day she'd met him in that cellar basement; the day she really began to _live_.

All the things she had longed to say to him when they finally spoke again...not a single one would pass her lips now that she finally had him on the other end of the line.

"Look, I'm very busy, whoever you are-" He began, and Rose was suddenly able to speak again.

"Doctor, wait! Please..." Rose choked out weakly.

"...How did you get this number?" he asked again, voice dark as it rippled across space and time and directly into her ear. Rose closed her eyes and relished the sound of a voice she had thought wiped from the face of reality forever as she forced herself to breathe.

"Doctor...it's Rose." she said quietly into the receiver "It's Rose, I've been trying to contact you for so long."

There was silence at the other end for what seemed a lifetime, and then "Rose who?"

The words drove into her heart like a knife, sending agony rippling through her as a small, choked sob escaped her lips; Rose found herself sagging weakly forward until she was in the fetal position on her knees, mobile cradled in her limp hands. Of course he didn't know her. This wasn't the doctor from her universe. Even the Doctor's jiggery-pokery wasn't good enough to make a phone that could call between parallel realities. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared sightlessly at the small, brightly glowing screen that still had the word 'TARDIS' printed mockingly across it, along with the little symbol that meant the call was still in progress.

"Rose, are you alright?" the Doctor asked, and the familiar words spoken by a stranger with a familiar voice brought on a fresh wave of tears that shook Rose's narrow frame.

"No, I'm not." she admitted in a small, trembling voice that broke as the tears trailed down her face, despite the fact that she'd clamped her eyes shut tight in an attempt to keep them in. She was fighting a losing battle, though, and she couldn't restrain the sobs that escaped her then to reach the ears of the one man she had thought could fix everything.

He couldn't though. This man was a stranger to her.

"Rose." The Doctor's voice murmured from the mobile she was still cradling to her, and the concern she heard there drove the air from her lungs, forcing her into silence "I don't know you, but I tend to meet people in the wrong order-"

"No, no you've never known me." Rose managed to say after she took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up. She scrubbed at her tear-streaked face with the edge of her pajama sleeve "Sorry, this was bloody stupid, I don't know what else I was expecting." she admitted, suddenly exhausted.

"But you know me?" He asked, tone curious, and more familiar than ever as it was projected through the small, tinny speaker of her mobile.

"Not really, actually." Rose admitted with a shaky laugh. It was true, she didn't know this Doctor at all, though she could probably hazard a few educated guesses about him.

"Who are you?" he asked again, the question heavier and more important than ever.

Rose considered for a moment, and then gathered herself up and said, in a steady tone free of tears "My name is Rose Tyler, and four years ago I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me. I was the Bad Wolf, I created myself."

The Doctor didn't respond, rather, after a moment during which Rose could hear only breathing, he hung up the phone with an audible click, severing the call she had been waiting to make for three years. Rose stared at the screen of her mobile as it flashed, and then went dark, leaving her blind and aching in the velvet night. Finally, she broke the silence with a strained chuckle, though she had no idea what she found so funny. Rose placed the ancient mobile back on her nightstand, then flopped bonelessly back against her pillows and closed her eyes, a sense of peace washing over her for the first time since the battle of Canary Wharf.

Thanks for reading! **Remember to leave a review if you're interested in more!**


	2. Party Crashers

**Author's Note:** Oh gosh, guys, thank you SO MUCH for all the wonderful reviews! To show my gratitude, here is our second installment! Not quite as intense as the first one, I think, but we're building up to a few things I've got planned, so let me know what you think ;D If I get inspired by more lovely reviews, I'll try my best to get another chapter up before Christmas!

Remember, reviews keep me writing, so **if you want more chapters, review!**

This evening had just about succeeded in putting Rose Tyler off of parties for the rest of her natural life. It had started off as a simple enough assignment from the head of field operations at Torchwood, a token assignment really; more an excuse for her team to go out and have a night of free drinks and hors d'oeuvres than anything.

The mission had been simple: Go to the Lazarus Labs big reveal party hosted by Dr. Lazarus himself, make sure everything was safe and not crossing the line into mad scientist territory, have a few drinks, and then go home.

Doing her best to sprint up the stairs in three inch heels, Rose figured Lazarus had crossed the mad scientist line miles back, and dived head first into Dr. Moreau territory without so much as a pit stop at Dr. Frankenstein.

When Lazarus stepped out of his machine almost seventy years younger than he'd been going in, Rose just about choked on her salmon patte. Nancy, the tech specialist for her team spit champagne right in Nikki, their medic's, face, and the woman barely even noticed.

After a stunned moment of silence, the room erupted into applause, but Rose did not join in. Instead, she activated the communicator in the bracelet she wore and said "Johnathan, we have a situation here at the Lazarus party. Contact headquarters and get a specialist over here stat."

"Yes Ma'am." was the snappy reply. A second later, though, the man on the other end, another member of her team, had asked "Er...what _kind _of specialist, Tyler?"

Rose cast a glance back at the machine, gaze lingering only briefly on Lazarus himself before turning her attention back to her com "Possibly a few. Get me a geneticist for sure, and any of the lads down in the lab that want to have a look at a machine that can reverse the aging process."

"Bloody hell. Alright, give me a mo' and I'll see who I can rouse at headquarters this time of night." Johnathan replied.

"Drag them out of bed, if you've got to, the'll _want _to see this, trust me." Rose said before hanging up the call and turning her attention back to the man of the hour.

Lazarus was circulating around the room, speaking with his astonished guests and generally acting like a smug bastard, in Rose's opinion. With a feeling of deep disgust for what she was about to do, Rose took a deep breath, put on her sexiest smile and pushed her way through the crowd until she was face to face with the man in question.

"Dr. Lazarus, that was simply _amazing._" Rose gushed, playing her best air headed socialite as she placed a hand intimately on his arm and tossed her long blond hair flirtatiously.

The newly rejuvenated man's eyes roved up and down her figure, taking in her short, tight black dress, shiny black pumps, and meticulously applied make-up with an almost predatory smile on his face. Rose kept smiling, forcing herself to suppress the feeling of nausea that the look he gave her induced. Instead she moved in closer and said "You simply must tell me how you did it!" she threw in a giggle for good measure and added "Well, as much as you can explain it to someone who's not a genius, anyways!"

"I'd like to hear that, myself." drawled man with a thick northern accent asked from just behind her. She hadn't even noticed him arrive "And I _am _a genius, so feel free to go into detail."

Rose's heart stopped dead in her chest, and she knew the color had rushed right out of her face as that familiar, challenging tone reached her ears. It took every ounce of control she had not to wrench around and gape at the man, the _Time Lord_, that she knew stood behind her.

Luckily, Lazarus was apparently to busy sizing up the intruder to notice Rose's discomposure, so she had a moment to gather herself before she turned and glanced casually at the Doctor. She only took a quick look, long enough to note that his hair was a little longer than she remembered, and his steely, gray gaze was fixated on the scientist beside her. She apparently didn't even register as a concern.

For the moment, Rose was completely okay with that.

"I hate to disappoint, but I believe the lady was here first." Lazarus told the doctor with a tight smile.

"Oh don't mind me, you boys have fun." Rose said brightly, turning to wink and smile at the scientist before leaning in and saying "Find me later though, yeah?" and then sauntered away, making use of her sexiest strut to drive the point home. She hated having to act that way, but she'd be lying if she said the skill didn't come in handy more often than it didn't.

For a moment, Rose worried that Lazarus would insist and come after her, but once she had some cover in the among crowd, she cast a glance back towards him, and was relieved to see the man making polite, if forced, conversation with the Doctor.

Oh god, the _Doctor._ He was here, in the same room as her and he'd hardly even glanced at her. The feeling of hurt that bloomed in her chest at this was stupid, considering this version of the Doctor had no idea who she was beyond a single phone call three nights before, and even then, he had no idea what she looked like. Come to think of it, she just might die of embarrassment if he managed to connect the heart broken, sobbing phone call he'd received at three in the morning from her.

Still, seeing those familiar grey eyes look right through her had been like a slap in the face that made her want to break down all over again. She refused to, though, and luckily, the soft vibration of her bracelet communicator telling her that someone was trying to contact her offered further distraction.

"What is it?" she murmured quietly into the tiny speaker as she pretended to brush her hair back from her face and fiddled with her earring.

"Are you alright? Your status monitor suddenly showed your heart rate going completely off the chart." Johnathan asked, the concern in his voice making Rose smile.

"I'm fine. Someone just sneaked up behind me is all." she lied. Well, sort of.

"Damn, must be one sneaky bastard then. Keep an eye on 'em, Tyler."

Rose chuckled and said "Oh I am." then hung up and began circulating casually through the crowd. Without acting like she was, Rose watched the Doctor like a hawk, taking in every detail she could from a distance. His conversation with Lazarus didn't last long, as the scientist came up with some excuse to get away, leaving the Time Lord standing before the machine, examining it as closely as he could without looking overly suspicious.

Judging by the displeased look on his long face, Lazarus hadn't supplied the Doctor with much in the way of an explanation on just how the machine had succeeded in doing what _should _have been impossible. Rose didn't blame him; there was something distinctly fishy going on with this whole affair, but she wouldn't be able to say what exactly until the Torchwood specialists arrived. She and the team she headed were a field unit, they were the first response to any reports of potentially alien activity. They would go in, scout out the situation, and then react one of four ways: communicate and diffuse the situation, capture and bring the culprit back to headquarters, retaliate with deadly force, or retreat and call for back-up in the face of a foe that was to big for their five-man team.

All five of them were highly trained, and each one had their specialty: Nikki was their medic who also had a good ear for languages, both Alien and Terran; Nancy was their alien tech specialist, and from where Rose was standing sipping her glass of champagne as she mingled, she could see the older woman examining the machine in much the same way the Doctor was, which made her smile. Johnathan was their communications monitor and a bonafide diplomat that had once worked for the U.N. before being drafted by Torchwood, his skills had come in handy on more than one occasion; Alan, on the other hand was their combat tactician and the best shot she'd ever seen with just about any gun you handed him.

Unlike the others, Rose did not have a specific area of specialty, though she had gone through the same extensive field training that the rest of them had, plus the leadership course necessary to become the head of her own team. Her travels with the Doctor had exposed her to so much over the years, that it had left her uniquely qualified to head a first contact and reconnaissance team. She was more than a little proud of the fact that her team, though it took on just as many, if not _more_ missions than any of the others, had the lowest rate of extra-terrestrial fatalities, and the highest rate of peaceful resolutions.

With such a track record, Rose had been allowed to pick the very best for her team, and they had become close over the past year, so much so that they would follow her, without question, head first into even the most dangerous of situations.

It was a fact that kept her up at night sometimes.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Rose turned her attention back to the Doctor, her dark eyes raking over him, taking in every detail that she could now that he wouldn't notice her doing so. He seemed older than when she had known him with this face in her universe, which she supposed made sense. No doubt he had kept it longer here due to the fact that _she _had never existed, and thus, he had never been forced to sacrifice himself to save her from the overwhelming power of the time vortex that had nearly burned her up from the inside out.

She noted, with a small pang in her heart, that this Doctor had more lines on his face from frowns than smiles, and she found herself wondering if he didn't have a companion to help ease the burden that his constant traveling placed on him. On the surface she hoped he did, but a small, dark part of her hoped he didn't; the thought of him being with anyone but her hurt. It was a nasty thought, and Rose felt ashamed of herself for even having it...but it didn't change the fact that it was there.

The Bad Wolf stirred into waking behind her eyes, and Rose felt the same sense of possessive protectiveness that had filled her to the brim and spilled over as the wrath of a Goddess the day she had looked into the heart of the TARDIS. She, as the Bad Wolf, had destroyed their enemies, revived their friend, and scattered messages to herself through time and space to guide her back to that place...but it had all been for nothing. The Doctor, _her_ Doctor, had sacrificed himself to save her from the immense power she had only temporarily harnessed. Yes, he had regenerated, and yes, she had come to love this version of the Doctor too, over time...but late at night, when sleep eluded her, or in those rare moments when she had been alone, Rose had been haunted by the idea that her Doctor had _died_ that day, and that some other man had inherited his memories and feelings, then walked away with his life.

Whatever he said, Rose knew that he wasn't the same man, no matter how much she had come to love him in his own right. As she watched this universe's Doctor turn his attention from Lazarus' machine to the milling crowd of socialites, she knew that she was going to have to keep reminding herself that he, too, was not the man she had fallen in love with.

When he unexpectedly caught her eye, and the whole room seemed to fall away between them, Rose knew that keeping him separate from her Doctor was going to be no easy task. He had that same, thoughtful expression as he looked at her, brow slightly furrowed, hands tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket. Rose was unable to stop the slow smile that spread across her face as she raised her glass to him on a whim, then took a long sip. When she lowered the glass, he wore a look of puzzlement, and had taken an unconscious step toward her.

Rose placed her now empty glass on a passing waiter's tray, then turned and disappeared into the crowd before she could fall pray to the powerful desire to go to him. The Wolf _insisted _that she do just that, but she knew she shouldn't. Rose _couldn't _for fear of feeling that intense sensation of heart break again when they conversed and he had no idea who she was. She couldn't bear to see him look at her without even a flicker of recognition again so soon.

Besides, she had work to do.

Thanks for reading, guys! Remember, reviews keep me writing, so **if you want more chapters, review!**


	3. Mutation

**Author's Note:** Well here we are again, I managed to eke a chapter out before Christmas! By this point, I'm definitely going to keep with this story, so I won't say I'm not going to do more chapters if you don't review...but I won't lie, getting reviews definitely helps me write _faster_! So please, enjoy and **leave a review!**

* * *

"Ok, Nancy, what've you got?" Rose asked in a low tone as she sidled up to her team's short and curvy alien tech specialist. The dark skinned woman looked around, blinking owlishly, then smiled when she saw who was speaking to her.

"Something rather astonishingly inspired!" Nancy all but cooed do the machine, making Rose roll her eyes and smile before she looped one arm through the specialist's and gently led her away into the crowd.

"Anything more specific? Figured out how it works yet? I left you alone with it a whole ten minutes, surely you could build one of your own by this point." Rose joked, making the short, curvy Indian woman laugh and shake her head, setting her long, dark curls tumbling about her round face and shoulders.

"Hardly, but I think I've managed to figure out the basic principles." Nancy said, holding up a device that was disguised as a mobile phone, but was actually a scanner that was far more advanced "As far as I can tell, the machine emits hyper-sonic waves, which creates a state of resonance in a subject's cellular structure, allowing changes to be made." the scientist explained as she flipped through some digital notes she'd made on her 'mobile'.

"So he...what? Hacked his cells using sonic vibrations?" Rose asked slowly, brow furrowed as she thought back to all the science courses she'd had to take for Torchwood. Everyone who joined did, to get them up to the 'basics' of advanced alien sciences so they could at least guess at what they were dealing with in the field. Rose had had to take a few more than that to make up for the fact that she'd never actually completed her A-levels back in her home universe. All the nit-picky tech and science talk would never be her strong suit, but she was miles ahead of where she'd been right after the battle of Canary Wharf.

"Pretty much, yeah." Nancy said, looking up from her device and grinning "He hacked into them and then told them to rejuvenate instead of age." a small frown replaced the smile a moment later, though, as she muttered "There's just so many _variables _though...surely he couldn't have accounted for all of them."

As Nancy muttered to herself, fingers flying across the display of her 'tricorder' as Alan always liked to call it (He acted cool, but the whole team knew he was a huge Star Trek fan), Rose was surveying the crowd again. Her eyes automatically sought the Doctor, who looked like he was stalking Lazarus the way a lion stalked a lame wildebeest, though he did spare the occasional glance around the room. It was as though he was looking for something else as well. Whatever it was, it wasn't her, as, though he did let his eyes linger briefly when he thought she wasn't looking, Rose herself was obviously not his target.

Forcing herself to look away from the Doctor, Rose turned her attention to Lazarus, only to be revolted by the sight of him cramming hors de'oeuvres into his face like a starving animal.

She must have made a noise of some sort, as Nancy glanced up at her, then over to see what had disgusted her so "Oh, gross." the woman remarked with a grimace.

"Yeah." Rose agreed, nose crinkling "Side effect of the process, you think?"

"It would make sense." Nancy said after a moment's thought "It's probably an energy deficit of some kind. He would have had a lot of energy running through, and then back out of him. His body must be trying to compensate by making him eat."

"No need to be so disgusting about it though." Rose grumbled even as someone else approached Lazarus, seemingly with the same thought on her mind. She was an elderly woman that Rose didn't recognize, but she was well dressed and spoke to the man like she knew him. His wife, maybe "Think that's Lady Thaw?" Rose suggested, nudging Nancy to take a look.

"Yeah, I think you're right." the shorter woman agreed "They're married, aren't they?" Rose nodded and Nancy continued "They don't share a name, though...not much love lost there I guess."

Rose snorted and watched as Lazarus snagged a flute of champagne and downed it in one gulp, earning him a sharp, though quiet, word from his wife. He frowned and said something in reply, then set the now empty glass back on a passing waiter's tray as Lady Thaw grabbed his arm and proceeded to lead him to the nearest staircase. Apparently whatever she wanted to talk about wasn't meant for the ears of their guests.

The Doctor had apparently noticed the same thing, as he loitered for a minute, and then walked out after the couple, clearly intent on following them. Rose, on the other hand, went after the waiter and lifted Lazarus' glass off the tray from behind before looking around for her team. To her surprise, Nancy had followed her, and was grinning knowingly.

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" the Indian woman asked, dark eyes sparkling.

"Well, if _you're_ thinking that _I'm_ thinking we might be able to lift some DNA off of this glass to take a peek at just what Lazarus did to himself...then you would be right." Rose said with a smirk that made Nancy laugh.

"Right, I'll just call Nikki then, shall I?"

A few minutes later, all three women were upstairs in an unoccupied (and formerly locked) laboratory with Rose keeping one eye on the door in case they needed to duck under a table when someone passed by.

"Where's Alan?" Nikki asked as she swabbed the rim of the champagne glass and prepared a sample for the computer.

"I told him to stay downstairs to keep an eye out for Lazarus in case he comes back downstairs." Rose said as she leaned against one of the work tables and watched the tall, thin woman go about her work with deft hands.

"Good, can't have him getting underfoot while we work." Nancy remarked with a grin that made Rose laugh aloud.

Nikki glanced up and smiled before placing the little slide she had prepared into the matter analyzer "Can't have Lazarus wandering off, either." she noted as she accessed the program they needed and the computer hummed to life.

When it signaled that it was done a moment later, all three women leaned in close to the monitor, almost identical frowns on their faces.

"Well it _seems _normal." Rose remarked with a huff of disappointment as she straightened and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, look!" Nikki exclaimed as the entire strand of DNA displayed on the monitor suddenly flashed and mutated.

"Oh my god, did it just _change?_" Nancy asked incredulously as Rose squeezed back in between them and watched the monitor closely.

Sure enough, it flashed and changed again a moment later, making them all give a start "This can't be good...Nikki, what does this mean? I've never seen anything like it." Rose asked with a frown of concern as she turned her gaze from the monitor to her medic.

"I don't...I've never heard of anything like it before." Nikki admitted, running her hands frantically through her chin length blond hair as she thought, a habit of hers that succeeded in destroying the pretty up-do she'd had it in for the party. She didn't seem to notice, though, and it stuck up in several places as she said "It's obviously a side-effect of the process he went through. There's so many _variables _in messing with your cellular structure, and DNA is...well, to put it very simply, it's _complicated_. Everything that we've ever been, or ever might have been is locked away in those strands." Nikki rubbed her eyes with one long fingered hand and said, after a moment's thought "The fact that his DNA is mutating like this...It might start having effects on his appearance, his thought processes, his actions..."

"What, like he's going to change into something...not human?" Rose asked, taken-aback by the idea, but as Nikki nodded slowly and Nancy stared, her mind was already racing "We've got to find Lazarus and contain him. I'm officially declaring this Torchwood business. If he turns into something dangerous and starts hurting people..."

Rose let her words hang, and the other two stared at her for a moment before nodding their agreement.

"Alright, good. Nancy, I want you downstairs with Alan, be ready to evacuate everyone downstairs if things start...happening." Rose said, wearing her 'leader face' as her team liked to call it "Nikki, you're with me, we're going upstairs."

Nancy nodded and hurried out, murmuring into her communicator, which was hidden in one of her large, glittering earrings, as she went. Rose turned to Nikki and asked "You've still got the sonics, right?"

"Yes, Mom." Nikki teased as she offered Rose the fashionable clutch she had been carrying all evening, though her face was strained. Nikki had never liked violence, but she had passed the marksmanship class just like everyone else on Rose's team, so she could use a weapon when she had to.

"That's my girl." Rose said with a grin as she took the bag and opened it. Inside was a small pocket for credit cards, lipstick, etc, but a side pocket could be unzipped to reveal a larger compartment. It was in here that Rose found the two small, light-weight sonic pistols that were standard issue for all Torchwood field teams. They were novel weapons in that they could either shoot traditional ammunition rounds when deadly force was necessary, _or _they could be switched to a non-lethal mode that emitted a blast of sonic energy that could force back an attacker and potentially knock them unconscious. They weren't as powerful as their larger counterparts, but they were better than nothing.

"And to think you all groaned when I insisted we come equipped." Rose mused with a smug smile as she handed a pistol to Nikki, then took her own and flipped the sonic option on. Nikki rolled her eyes, but Rose ignored her and said "Lets keep things non-lethal for now, we don't need a debacle on our hands, and killing a millionaire scientist at his own reveal party definitely constitutes a debacle."

"Yes ma'am. Now, where's his office?" Nikki asked "Seems like a good place to start."

Rose nodded her agreement and said "Knowing him, I'd guess top floor. It looked like there was a penthouse set-up there from down on the street."

The women set out, Rose in the lead, guns down at their sides but ready to be raised in a flash if necessary, or hidden in case then ran into a civilian. No need to have someone running downstairs screaming about terrorists, after all. Nikki re-locked the laboratory door behind them, then they made for the nearest elevator.

As they ascended, Rose's com buzzed and she answered it "Make it quick, I'm in the elevator."

"Lazarus is back downstairs." Alan's voice buzzed in her ear.

"Is he with anyone?" Rose asked.

"No, but he seems pretty set on picking up a girl. Guy's playing it pretty hard."

"Gross. Ok, keep an eye on him, let me know immediately if he leaves again."

"Gotcha." Alan replied, hanging up just as the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening silently.

Nikki went to press the ground floor button to take them back down again, but Rose intercepted her hand and said "Hold on, lets have a look around since we're already here. Alan and Nancy can cover him for now."

"Alright, what are we looking for, exactly?" Nikki asked as they stepped out, pistols lowered but still in one hand as they looked around the large suite the elevator had opened up into.

"Dunno, anything suspicious, I guess." Rose said as she walked over towards a shelf and Nikki headed for the large desk not far away. The whole place was decorated in a modern, fashionably understated way. The furniture all had sharp, clean lines and there was a minimum of actual decorations. It was practically the opposite of Rose's own, little used, office back at headquarters. It was always in a perpetual state of looking like the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through a paper factory. She just never had time to clean it...

"Rose? I...think I found something suspicious." Nikki said in a high, tight voice from where she had frozen, mid-step, a few feet from Lazarus' desk.

Rose hurried over and balked at what she saw as she came around the large piece of furniture and saw what had startled her teammate "Oh my god, is that Lady Thaw?" she asked, horrified. The woman looked like a mummy that had been sitting in an Egyptian tomb for over two thousand years, she was so dry.

"Yes, I-I think so." Nikki said in a trembling voice as she knelt besides the corpse to get a closer look, a expression of horrified fascination on her face as she pulled a set of medical gloves out of her clutch and donned them "Yes, this is the necklace she was wearing downstairs when we saw her last." Nikki confirmed, fingertips brushing across the expensive, glittering piece before going about a more thorough medical examination "And the skeletal structure of the face matches at cursory inspection."

Rose was distracted from asking how Lazarus could have done such a thing (who else, after all?) by her com buzzing on her wrist again "Yes?"

"Lazarus is heading upstairs." Alan said in a quiet tone over the connection, his voice making Nikki and Rose tense.

"Did he take the central elevator?" Rose asked sharply. If he had, he'd be on them in moments.

"No, he took the one in the west corner. He's got Nancy with him." He said, and Rose could practically hear the grimace that was most certainly on his face.

"What?!" Rose demanded "Why did you let her go?"

"Hey look, don't bite my head off!" Alan said defensively, struggling to keep his voice down "She insisted on going, figured it'd be safer to send someone that's trained to protect themselves than to let a civilian get caught up in the crossfire."

Rose took a deep breath and got herself back under control. Nancy had made the right decision, and she knew it, but it was hard not to worry about the tiny woman "Alright, stay where you are, we'll keep you informed." Rose said and then hung up before the man could object. She rubbed her temples as she told Nikki "Ok, I've got to go find Nancy, you stay here and finish up so we know just how Lazarus did this to Lady Thaw. Maybe it'll give us a hint on what we're dealing with here..."

"Alright, it shouldn't-" Nikki was interrupted by a series of beeps from both of their communicators "Morse code." she said, blinking in surprise.

"R-O-O-F." Rose spelled aloud as the beeps repeated "He took her to the roof! That brilliant girl!" Rose said with a grin as she spun and ran for the door "You keep going, I'll take care of Nancy!" she called back to Nikki before dashing out and down the hall.

She forced herself to resist the urge to slam through the door to the staircase, but did allow herself to sprint up it, thoughts of mad scientists and worry for her team member racing through her mind. The three inch heels, she decided at the top of the first landing, had to go. Kicking them off quietly, she placed them in the corner in the hopes of being able to come back for them later; they were one of her favorite pairs, after all. Running for ones life in heels just wasn't an option at this point, unfortunately.

Hurrying up the last flight, Rose stopped at the door and checked that her pistol was ready. Then, moving as quietly as possible, she carefully pushed the door open crack so she could study the scene playing out on the other side. Across the way, Lazarus stood with a tight grip on Nancy's arm, and Rose wondered why she hadn't tried to escaped. As far as she could tell, he was still just a man, and Nancy was more than competent at self defense and breaking holds.

Her question was answered a moment later when a familiar voice echoed across the roof. She and Lazarus weren't alone, and Nancy was waiting to see how things played out between the two men before acting "That's not how it works, Lazarus, some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty. It's not the time that matters, it's the person."

Rose's heart leaped as the Doctor stepped into her line of sight, voice ringing strong and clear across the rooftop, and she couldn't hear what Lazarus said in response over the thunder of her pulse pounding in her ears. The stranger's familiar form stood straight and defiant, and despite Nancy's predicament, she watched him with some interest, no doubt wondering just who he was. Everyone's attention was dragged from the Doctor, though, when Lazarus suddenly doubled over in agony.

The noise that accompanied the man's horrific change made Rose want to gag, but she pushed it aside and burst through the door onto the roof "Nancy!" she shouted, getting the woman's attention.

Luckily Lazarus had released the specialist so she was free to run towards her leader without hesitation "Get downstairs, warn the others. Get everyone evacuated immediately!" Rose commanded. Nancy nodded and was off down the stairs in the blink of an eye.

Snapping back around towards Lazarus and the Doctor, Rose could only stare, horrified, at the monstrosity being born before their very eyes. Ever survival instinct bestowed upon the human race by evolution screamed at her to run, but before she could even think about it, movement caught her eye. The Doctor had taken a step back as Lazarus gradually unfolded his new, horrific form to tower ominously over them.

Without even realizing she had started, Rose was sprinting across the roof in her bare feet, pistol in hand as Lazarus went up on to his rear legs, ready to pounce on the Time Lord, who had taken a few more hurried steps backward, only to come up against an air conditioning unit.

"Oi!" she shouted, getting the monster's attention as she raised her gun and shot three rapid pulses directly into it's face. The monster hissed and recoiled in pain, giving Rose the time she needed to reach the Doctor, grab his hand and shout "_Run!_"

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**Author's Note:** Still not a lot of Doctor and Rose interaction yet, but I promise it's coming next chapter! xDD Please leave a review if you enjoyed! If not, leave a review anyways and tell me why! (Constructive criticism only, though, please!)


	4. Like Old Times

**Author's Note: **Well here we are at chapter four! Sorry for the delay, but the holidays left me pretty creatively drained. Remember to leave a review, they really do help inspire me to keep writing!

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The Doctor's hand clutched tightly in hers, Rose sprinted for the door, stashing her pistol in the bodice of her dress to leave her a free hand to operate the handle when they reached it. Taken off-guard by her sudden appearance, the Doctor made a stumbling start to their escape, nearly knocking her off stride, but managed to catch up and match her after a few steps. Rose's bare feet protested as she came to a hurried stop at the door and wrenched it open before dragging the doctor down into the winding staircase, but she ignored them. She knew she'd regret abusing them later, though.

"Lock it!" she panted to the Doctor as the door slammed shut behind them. Luckily, he already had his sonic screwdriver out and was doing just that. It's familiar blue glow and high-pitched buzz brought Rose nearly as much relief as the Doctor's physical presence did.

"We've got to get everyone downstairs evacuated." The Doctor said, his deep voice echoing down the stairwell and drawing her eyes to him. He was looking at her with a frown on his face, one she knew meant he had about a thousand-and-one questions for her that he wasn't quite ready to ask.

"Already done." Rose said as she straightened and fetched her pistol back out of her top, making the Doctor blink in surprise. Much to her delight, the tops of his large ears actually turned pink, though his expression seemed totally un-bothered. The woman grinned and checked the charge on her weapon. She had enough for three, maybe four more shots before the battery was dead and she'd have to put it into recharge mode.

The shriek of tearing metal interrupted the Doctor before he could even ask his first question, making the both of them turn to look at the door behind them. It was bending noticeably.

"Just can't can't catch a break tonight." Rose grumbled, masking her fear with feigned annoyance at their predicament.

"Come on, we've got to get back downstairs." The Doctor said, grabbing her hand and dashing down the stairs, dragging Rose along after him.

For all she was terrified, Rose was grinning like a schoolgirl as she and the Doctor ran down flight after flight of stairs. It was just like old times...well, almost. He had no idea who she was, but for the moment, that didn't matter in the least.

The buzz of her communicator dragged Rose out of her happy, if panicked, place and back into the present "Kinda busy here!" she said, making the Doctor glance at her, his gray eyes flicking between her face and the device on her wrist. Rose just gave him a helpless shrug and a smile as though she'd just gotten an inconvenient phone call in the middle of dinner instead of during the middle of a mad dash for their lives.

"Where are you?" Johnathan's voice crackled worriedly over the little speaker.

"Running for my life, how about you?" Rose asked breathlessly, then yelped as she slipped on a stair and tumbled forward. Her fall was stopped abruptly by a pair of strong arms and a broad chest as the Doctor turned and caught her before she nearly took both of them out. Looking up at him, eyes wide with surprise she managed to say "Th-thanks."

The Doctor's eyes searched hers, and Rose licked her lips nervously under the weight of his gaze. She'd forgotten how _tall_ he'd been before he'd regenerated, though she'd never forgotten just how imposing he could be when he wished it. The Time Lord's hand's tightened around her upper arms, and Rose swore she could feel both his hearts pounding where her hands connected with the flat planes of his chest.

"Who _are_ y-"

The deafening clatter of a steel door being ripped from it's hinges and sent tumbling down a staircase echoed down from above them, cutting the Doctor's words off mid-sentence. The pair shared a look, then took one another's hands and started running once more, neither of them thinking about how natural the gesture seemed.

"Tyler! What's going on?!" Johnathan demanded, startling Rose. She'd forgotten the line was still open.

"Long story short, we've got a Class Four coming down the central staircase, and it's pissed, yeah?"

"A Class Four? Where the hell did it come from?" Alan butted in.

"Oh god, it's Lazarus, isn't it?" Nikki asked, dread heavy in her voice.

"What is this, a com-party?" Rose complained as the Doctor dragged her through a doorway and out into a hallway "Yes it's Lazarus, that machine of his turned him into some sort of monster."

"It's a throwback, some evolutionary possibility that humanity never actually attained." The Doctor explained as they careened around a corner.

"Who the hell is that?" Johnathan and Alan asked simultaneously.

"Friend of mine, never you mind." Rose chided as they came to a locked door and the Doctor dropped her hand and reached for his sonic screwdriver "Oh leave off!" Rose exclaimed as the Time Lord started fiddling with settings. Pushing him to one side, she hiked up her skirt and kicked, landing the blow just below the knob as she'd been taught. The door snapped back on it's hinges with a satisfying crack, and Rose grinned.

Luckily it was just a light weight, faux-wood door or she never would have been able to manage it barefoot. As it was, the Doctor was staring at her as she tugged her dress back down into place "Well come on, don't just sit there!" Rose said. The exasperation in her voice drove the Doctor to his feet. He tucked his screwdriver back into his jacket pocket as he moved past her and said "You and I will be having a very long discussion after this."

"I can't wait." Rose said with a teasing grin, though her stomach churned nervously at the thought. Allowing the Doctor to take the lead for the moment, Rose re-opened communications with her team, only to find an indecipherable torrent of discussion waiting for her.

"Oi! Shut up!" she snapped, making the Doctor glance back at her over his shoulder for a brief moment. She shrugged at him and he rolled his eyes and kept running "Has everyone been evacuated?" she asked tensely.

"Yes ma'am." Johnathan replied meekly.

"Good. Nikki, you're out of the building, right?"

"Yes ma'am." the medic said "The autopsy on Lady Thaw was inconclusive for the most part, but..." she trailed off.

"But what?" Rose asked as the Doctor came to a stop at another door. This one was bigger, and made of metal, but the Time Lord gave her a gentlemanly half-bow and wave of a hand, as though offering her first crack at it.

Rose rolled her eyes and flapped a dismissive hand at him, and for a brief moment, a grin flashed across his angular features. It was completely out of her power to avoid returning the smile, but she only allowed herself to indulge for a moment before turning her attention back to her com as he went to work on opening it.

"But what, Nikki?" Rose prodded again as the sonic screwdriver buzzed behind her.

"But...he _seems_ to have the ability to drain people's life force." The woman replied, sounding meek and more than a little worried.

"What, like he just _sucks_ the energy right out of them? Why?" Rose asked incredulously, her words making the Doctor glance back at her again, eyebrows raised.

"My guess, and it _is _just a guess, mind you, is that Lazarus is having trouble stabilizing this new form. He needs more energy to keep himself together, so he's stealing it from other people." Nikki explained.

"Nikki, have you gone daft? This isn't an alien we're talking about here." Alan said, voice disbelieving over her com.

And argument ensued, and Rose simply hung up and walked over to the Doctor, who straightened and pushed the door open as she reached him "So, what do you think? Life sucking monster from pre-history seem feasible to you?" she asked, pushing her blond hair back out of her face. Their break-neck run had totally ruined half an hour's careful styling, so she had no doubt she looked a total mess. She couldn't bring herself to care, though, not when the Doctor was giving her that considering look again.

She arched a brow challengingly at him and pushed for an answer again "Look, he's gonna find us any moment and I'd rather have a working theory so we can figure out how to deal with him."

"What makes you think _I'd _know anything?" The doctor asked, tearing his eyes from hers and pushing through the double doors and jogging down the corridor, his long stride forcing her to run to keep up.

"Shut up, you're a terrible liar." she said with an incredulous laugh that he'd even try after all they had been through that evening. Even if she _hadn't_ already known him from her universe she wouldn't have bought that "I'm not stupid, you know." she remarked as they went through a second set of double doors, unlocked this time, and found themselves in the main reception hall.

"I never said you were!" the Doctor objected, stopping halfway across the room and grabbing her hand to stop her. His voice went up an octave the way it always did when he complained or objected to something. His incredulous expression made Rose laugh, and her smile returned. For a moment, the Doctor seemed to relax, and within her, the Wolf stirred excitedly. He was right here before them; he could be _their's _again. A few choice words and they could convince him to whisk them away in the Tardis, return them to their life of adventure and discovery...

Rose closed her eyes and reigned the Bad Wolf in. _He isn't ours. He's not the same man._

He _could _be, though, the wolf insisted, quietly now, just a whisper at the back of her mind. Then, in a flash that made her breath catch, a not-yet memory of Lazarus plummeting through the skylight directly above them burned itself into her mind's eye.

Reacting automatically, Rose grabbed the Doctor by the lapels of his jacket and shoved him bodily against Lazarus' machine so forcefully that it drove the breath from his lungs with a grunt of pain. As the Time Lord's chest heaved in an attempt to take in air, or perhaps to shout at her, Rose looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the monster that had once been a brilliant scientist crash through the glass ceiling and land right where they'd been standing. It's landing was not graceful, but the creature wasn't down for long.

"Quick, get in!" The Doctor said, pushing Rose through the door of the machine and into the small chamber within before following quickly after and closing the door behind them.

"Well now what?" Rose asked, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall of the chamber as she caught her breath and tried to calm the wild beating of her heart. Silence met her question, though, so she cracked an eye and caught the Time Lord looking away awkwardly "You have no idea, do you?"

"I hadn't quite thought that far ahead yet, no." he admitted reluctantly, and Rose laughed weakly, making him look at her sharply.

"Alright, I'll call my team, we'll see about getting some back-up to hold him off so we can get out of here..." Rose said, lifting her wrist to tap her com. When nothing happened, she frowned and tried again, and then once more "Oh c'mon, you have _got _to be kidding me." she growled, throwing her head back so that it thumped against the wall "The machine must be interfering with it, I can't get a call out."

"Fantastic. Stuck in a tube like a couple o' sardines just waiting to be eaten."

"Oi, you're the one that shoved us in here." Rose pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the Time Lord.

The Doctor huffed and refused to meet her gaze, making her smile. She'd always loved it when she'd actually managed to get one over on him. Giving herself a mental shake, Rose pointedly reminded herself that this was _not_ her Doctor, and forced herself to apply her thoughts to the situation at hand "Well, at least we're safe for now, yeah? He wouldn't dare destroy his precious machine, so now we've just got to wait for my team to decide to come investigate now that my com's been cut off."

"Team. Why do you have a _team?_" The Doctor asked, skeptical, but interest obviously piqued as he crossed his arms over his chest and leveled his most unyielding stare on her. He'd heard her talking to them earlier, obviously, but now he actually had the time to ask.

"Why do _you _have a sonic screwdriver? Had a lot of cabinets to put up, did you?" she asked blandly just to throw him off, her eyes flicking to the breast pocket she knew he'd stuck it in.

"Fair enough." The Doctor said with a ghost of a smile that faded as they heard Lazarus skitter past the machine towards the other side of the room, away from the door.

Eyes wide, Rosed asked in a low voice "Think we could make it to the door?"

The Doctor held up a hand for silence, and Rose cocked her head and listened. Before they realized what the creature had done, there was the quiet hum of machinery, and then a soft hiss of the door sealing itself.

"No! No no no!" Rose cried, throwing herself against the door as Lazarus' plan hit her.

"Lazarus, don't you dare!" The Doctor shouted as he threw himself against the door as well. Even their combined efforts couldn't budge it though.

The former man's only response was a soft chuckle that sent a shiver up Rose's spine.

"Doctor." she said, hating herself for the tremble in her voice when she softly spoke his name for the first time, making him freeze, then look at her intently "Doctor I don't want to end up like him." Rose stated, brown eyes wide as she turned them up to meet his.

There was a tense moment of quiet that was broken only by the humming of the machine as it powered up. Finally, he nodded tightly and said "Right, lets get to work then, shall we?" then ducked down to crouch on the floor, whipping out his sonic screwdriver as he did so.

Shuffling her feet out of his way so that the Time Lord could remove the panel set into the floor, Rose plastered herself against the wall so he would have room to work. When he spoke again, though her eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Your feet, do they hurt?" He asked in a concerned tone that made her heart leap. It was the same tone he'd used when he'd asked if she was alright on the phone, though he had no idea who she was. The same tone he used to use...

"Nah, I'm used to saving the day barefoot." Rose laughed and lied, curling her bare and battered toes up unconsciously. He was asking about the state of his feet, but it hadn't stopped him working. His large hands tore at wires, then rearranged them. The machine whirred louder than ever and Rose could see energy building up around them, felt it in her bones, no...in her very _cells_.

"No! I need more _time!_" the Doctor growled as he pushed himself faster than ever, sweat beading on his brow.

"You can do it, Doctor; you always manage it in the end!" Rose insisted as she closed her eyes once more, fighting the panic as energy crackled around them.

More time, he just needed a little more _time_.

Reaching deep within herself, Rose took a breath and then, for the first time since she'd first united with the heart of the Tardis, _she _called on the Wolf...and it answered.

_Give it to him, give him the time he needs! It can't end here, not now that we've finally found him!_

Reaching out, the Bad Wolf pressed her hands to the walls of the transformation chamber. Releasing a long, slow breath, she opened golden eyes and _pushed_ against the flow of time. With eyes that saw beyond the paper thin skin of reality, the Bad Wolf watched time eddy and flow around them. The Doctor was right; time was far from linear, it changed, shifted, and flowed in whatever way it pleased. Fixed points in time were like the center of a whirlpool that ever died, but drew everything in towards it with an undeniable force. Once upon a time she could have stopped it entirely, could have unmade Lazarus with the casual wave of a hand...but for now, the brief drag she caused in the current was enough to buy the Doctor the few seconds he needed to finish rewiring the machine.

"Right, I-" the Doctor sprang to his feet and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his breast pocket. Mid-motion, though, he froze as he locked eyes with Rose, and pushed away from her in alarm.

"Just...do it." the Bad Wolf commanded raising her chin authoritatively, her voice echoing strangely. Before he could respond, Rose went limp as the power left her in the form of a golden mist that escaped her as she sighed.

Grabbing her with one arm, the Doctor raised the sonic screwdriver with the other and activated it. The machine responded immediately, and the energy suddenly reversed, shooting outward in a wave and leaving him breathless, hearts pounding.

The Time Lord closed his eyes and sagged back against the wall, weak with relief, the strange blond woman a dead weight in his arms. As he caught his breath, the Doctor looked down at her with a thoughtful frown on his face.

He had come to this time, and this place in hopes of finding the Bad Wolf and wound up caught in this madness instead. Still, was it possible she had managed to find him first?


End file.
